A torchlight procession gathered in Trastevere on Tuesday evening before making its way across the Tiber to Portico d’Ottavia to commemorate the tragic event.
During World War II, Portico d’Ottavia was a Jewish ghetto.
On October 16, 1943, the Roman neighbourhood was raided by Nazi soldiers and its residents captured.
That morning, the district was seized and 365 Gestapo charged through its streets.
While some locals were able to hide or escape, most didn’t stand a chance.
A total of 1259 Jews (363 men, 689 women, and 207 children) were captured and forced into trucks at gunpoint.
On October 18, 1943, the prisoners were sent on a train from Tiburtina station to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
Only 16 of them made it out of the camp alive.
To mark the sombre occasion, Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi announced on Tuesday that the city’s first two streets named after signatories to the fascist race laws would be renamed.
Raggi said Via Arturo Donaggio and Via Edoardo Zavattari would be given new names.
“Mayor Raggi is therefore implementing her announcement that the streets of Rome will no longer be named after those who prepared the laws that led to the Holocaust,” a statement said.
